Good morning, everyone. My name is Craig Drummond, and I'm Chair of the Transurban Group. Welcome to the 2024 Annual General Meetings. This morning, we are holding three meetings concurrently. These are the Annual General Meetings for Transurban Holdings Limited, Transurban International Limited, and Transurban Holding Trust. We have a quorum, so I declare the meetings open. I am chairing today's meetings in Melbourne. On behalf of Transurban, we acknowledge the traditional owners of the lands throughout Australia, and we pay respect to elders, past and present.
We acknowledge our roads and infrastructure are built on country. With deep respect, we incorporate the voices of First Nations peoples in our approach, supporting equitable access to mobility across communities. One example of how we've done this in FY24 is our support for the KARI Foundation in Sydney, which helps young Indigenous people obtain their driver's license.
The board and I are pleased to be meeting with security holders in person and online today. As well as providing our security holders with an update on our operations, this AGM also provides an opportunity for board members to hear directly from security holders. For those joining us online, we have worked diligently to ensure the broadcast runs smoothly. But should you experience any technical difficulties, a recording of the meetings will be available on our website later today.
As outlined in the notice of meetings, security holders will have the opportunity to vote and ask questions of the board in real time. To provide everyone with an opportunity to vote, and in case anyone cannot stay for the duration of the meetings, I will now formally open the poll on all resolutions. The notice of meetings was made available to all of you.
With your consent, I will take that document as read. I'd now like to introduce the directors and our Company Secretary. On my right are our Company Secretary, Fiona Last, our Chief Executive Officer, Michelle Jablko, and independent non-executive directors, Peter Scott, Patricia Cross, Rob Whitfield, Marina Go, Tim Reed, Mark Birrell, Sarah Ryan, and Gary Lennon.
As part of the board's active succession activities, Gary Lennon was appointed as a non-executive director on March 18th, 2024 . The board considers Gary's deep accounting, financial risk management, treasury, and strategic experience complements the board's existing mix of experience and skills. Gary is standing for election today. In addition, Tim Reed, Rob Whitfield, and I are standing for re-election. You will hear from each of us later in the meeting.
This has been a year of evolution as we hit the ground running with a new executive team and a continued focus on meeting changing stakeholder expectations and preparing for the growth ahead. A smooth transition to the leadership team, headed by Michelle as CEO, saw the business maintain its growth momentum and deliver tangible value, both on and off the road, to all stakeholders. This starts with our 10.8 million customers. Traffic volumes continued to grow in all of our markets in FY 2024, reaching an average of nearly 2.5 million trips a day. This was despite the macroeconomic environment and expected disruption from major construction projects in Sydney and Melbourne. This highlights the value our customers find in choosing our roads for faster, safer, and more reliable travel.
Saving time continues to be the key reason people choose our roads, with customers collectively saving over 446,000 hours in travel time every workday in FY 2024. Our roads play such a fundamental role in a city's productivity and social connectivity that it's difficult to imagine moving around without them. For example, here in Melbourne, customers are saving up to 30 minutes per trip by using CityLink, the same time savings as 16 years ago, despite the city having grown by around 1.3 million people. And by spending less time in traffic, our customers are saving on fuel. In Australia, our customers collectively save more than 1 million L of fuel every workday, which equates to a daily saving of around AUD 2 million. Our research shows that fuel is one of the main cost-of-living concerns for Australian households.
In response, this year, we provided our more frequent customers with a AUD 0.12 per liter fuel bonus discount over a three-month period, on top of our regular offer of AUD 0.04 a liter off. Our roads are designed, built, and operated to provide free-flowing traffic conditions. By providing quicker and more fuel-efficient trips, our customers save an average of 2,974 tons of greenhouse gas emissions each workday, which is the equivalent to the yearly power consumption of 862 homes. Safety is another core proposition for our customers. Our vision is for zero serious injury road crashes, and we will continue striving towards this goal.
We are an industry leader in road safety, with the Monash University Accident Research Centre latest analysis, based on data up to June twenty twenty-two, finding Transurban's Australian roads are at least twice as safe as like roads, such as freeways and motorways with similar traffic volumes. We've also made it a priority to provide the best possible on-road experience for our customers. We are pleased to improve our customer satisfaction rating and achieve a Net Promoter Score this year of positive twelve, up from positive seven last year, and a long way from our baseline score of negative two when we first started using this metric five years ago. A Net Promoter Score, known as NPS, is a globally recognized benchmark of customer advocacy and loyalty.
We monitor our performance through comprehensive feedback surveys on all of our customer channels, which helps us understand what we are doing well, where we can improve the customer experience, and how we can create further value. I recently had the opportunity to sit with our customer service team and listening to customer calls to get a first-hand experience of the daily interactions occurring. The variety of queries that the team handled was impressive, and it reinforced to me the importance of putting ourselves in our customers' shoes and having a continuous improvement mindset. We're also very aware that particularly in the current economic climate, some customers are facing financial or social hardship. We continue to promote our Linkt Assist service so that customers know that they can access support, such as payment plans, fee and debt waivers, as well as toll credits.
Transurban has also provided funding for a service known as One Stop One Story Hub that connects people experiencing financial hardship or family violence with over 20 organizations who provide holistic cross-sector support. Turning now to our key financial results for the year ended June 30th, 2024. Increased traffic volumes saw proportional toll revenue rise by 6.7% year-on-year to more than AUD 3.5 billion. In FY 2024, our proportional earnings before interest, tax, depreciation, and amortization, EBITDA, rose by 7.5% to more than AUD 2.6 billion. We remain vigilant on managing costs and maximizing the performance of our operations. Total costs increased by 3.6%, which outperformed our guidance of 4%-6% increase. Free cash, excluding capital releases, increased by approximately 15% to more than AUD 1.95 billion.
This allowed us to declare more than AUD 1.9 billion in gross distributions to security holders. Our full-year distribution of AUD 0.62 per stapled security, which was in line with our guidance, was more than fully covered by free cash and represented a 7% increase on FY 2023. The translation of traffic performance to cash and then distributions highlights the quality and defensive characteristics of our portfolio, particularly in the current economic climate. Our distribution guidance for FY 2025, which the board reaffirms today, reflects our confidence in the ability of our business to grow distributions, both organically through traffic growth on our assets, as well as a disciplined approach to new investments. We expect the FY 2025 full-year distribution to be AUD 0.65 per security, which represents an almost 5% increase on FY 2024.
We expect it to be covered 95%-105% covered by free cash, excluding capital releases. Today, we released our September quarter traffic results, with average daily traffic, or ADT, increasing by 1.1%, averaging 2.5 million trips per day. We know that people use our roads for a variety of reasons, from daily commuting and casual trips through to high-volume freight movements. Today's results reflect this and really highlight the quality and diversity of our portfolio. Our North American assets continue to perform well, and the new Fredericksburg Extension is now contributing 20% of all trips on the 95 Express Lanes. In Australia, we saw continued growth in Sydney and Brisbane, with freight trips increasing in key corridors. However, we do see the impact of construction projects in Sydney and Melbourne, as we've spoken about before.
In Melbourne, these construction impacts are expected to ease in the 2025 calendar year as the West Gate Tunnel Project nears completion, and we prepare to open up new journeys for our customers. In FY 2024, we raised AUD 5 billion of debt across both bank and debt capital markets to support funding initiatives and project delivery. We saw only a slight increase of 40 basis points in our weighted average cost of debt to 4.5%, despite an environment where the RBA cash rate has risen by 425 basis points since rates began to increase in May 2022. Weighted average maturity for group debt is marginally lower than the prior year at a comfortable 6.7 years. Our balance sheet is in a strong position, and we are well-funded to take advantage of future organic growth opportunities.
In her address, Michelle will talk more about our projects and the benefits we expect to deliver for our stakeholders. 2024 also marks a decade since Transurban entered the Brisbane market. Our achievements in that market provide an example, an excellent example of how Transurban creates clear value for all of our stakeholders, both on and off the road. Since 2014, we have doubled the number of active customers in Brisbane to 2.4 million, and drivers are realizing the benefits of quicker, safer, and more reliable travel using our roads. In FY 2024 alone, our customers saved an average of 87,000 hours in travel time every workday. We have invested almost AUD 700 million in capital projects, including road upgrades and a state-of-the-art traffic control center, which uses predictive analytics, automation, and machine learning technology to predict congestion and identify and respond to incidents faster.
Analysis by KPMG has estimated that the safety of our roads has led to AUD 144 million in health service costs being avoided in Queensland over the past decade. We have contributed more than AUD 6 million to charities and community initiatives. This includes fitting more than 8,000 child car seats for free through our partnership with Kidsafe Queensland, and funding more than 16,800 nights of accommodation for families of seriously ill children staying at Ronald McDonald House. We have also planted over 128,000 trees across Brisbane, and nearly 90% of the energy to run our operations comes from renewable sources. These are just some examples of how we take a holistic approach to creating long-term value that meets the needs of all of our stakeholders.
On that point, this year, we again conducted a listening survey to better understand the evolving expectations of stakeholders and how we are performing. We heard from more than 5,000 people across Australia, including our partners at all levels of government. Their input helps us determine the best way we can make a meaningful impact and support stakeholder goals and areas where we can improve. We also carried out a robust assessment to better understand what ESG topics matter most to our stakeholders from both an impact and financial materiality perspective. This feedback helps us focus our efforts on where we can make a difference, such as climate and customer emissions, road safety, and the welfare of our customers. We continue to reduce our environmental impacts and work towards our goal of net zero emissions by 2050.
In FY 2024, we achieved a 30% absolute reduction from FY 2023 in our Scope One and Scope Two fuel and electricity emissions. We also worked with suppliers and project delivery partners to reduce our Scope Three supply chain emissions, with initiatives such as increasing the use of low-carbon construction materials. We recognize the serious impact of fossil fuel-powered vehicles on the environment and our responsibility to address climate change by aiming to reduce vehicle emissions. We are tackling this in various ways, including designing and managing roads to minimize emissions through flatter gradients, smoother trips with less congestion, and encouraging the uptake of electric vehicles and fuel-efficient driving techniques. This year, we launched an initiative called EVs for Everyone, which aims to connect with car-reliant communities who will benefit most from electric vehicle ownership.
As part of this program, we are working with a number of partners to raise awareness of the potential for electric vehicles to be more accessible and affordable. We have a major community event planned for next month in Western Sydney to promote the program. Before I hand over to Michelle, I'd like to acknowledge the external recognition we have received this year for our efforts to prioritize diversity, equity, and inclusion in our team. The board recognizes how important these attributes are in shaping a culture that reflects the community we operate in and where people are inspired to do their best work. This year, we ranked number one globally out of around 4,000 companies on gender equality performance in Equileap's 2024 Annual Ranking Program.
We also maintained our position as an employer of choice by the Workplace Gender Equality Agency, the eleventh consecutive year we have held this recognition. Before I conclude, I'd like to recognize Michelle for her significant contributions in her first year as Chief Executive. Michelle's strong leadership and continued stakeholder focus is evident through the highlights that we've discussed today. And on behalf of the board, I'd like to thank you, our security holders, for your continued support for Transurban. This is an exceptional business with first-class assets that are vital to the livability and productivity of our cities. We have an excellent team, who the board and I thank for their dedication in making sure that the outcomes of their work produce results that benefit and create value for all of our stakeholders.
They are a team that is truly focused on ensuring our customers see real and clear value when they choose to take our roads. We look forward to many exciting milestones next year with our major project openings and more opportunities in front of us to grow our business. These opportunities will in turn drive both value for our stakeholders and distributions for you, our investors. On that note, we have a short video of key highlights for the year.
Thanks, Craig, and good morning. When I spoke with you a year ago, I was looking forward to being appointed as Transurban's next CEO, and a year on, I'm even more optimistic about our future. We've got high-quality assets in growing cities, outstanding people, and significant opportunities ahead. To keep this momentum going, we've sharpened our focus on key areas that we believe will drive sustainable value for you, our security holders. That means creating value for all of our stakeholders, pursuing growth where we have the potential to excel, and driving efficiency across our business. Our achievements this past year are evidence that we're starting to see the benefits of this approach. As a truly stakeholder-driven business, we continually strive to add value. This underpins all of the opportunities ahead of us, and it starts with our 10.8 million customers.
When choosing our roads, we want customers to feel the benefits they get exceed the price they pay. In 2024, we delivered a number of initiatives to further add value for our customers at all points of their journey. We expanded our Linkt Rewards program, which now includes discounts on fuel and many other everyday expenses. The program grew fivefold this year to more than 1 million members, and collectively, they redeemed nearly 1.8 million individual rewards. We also partnered with Google Maps in Australia to show toll pricing, so customers have all the information in front of them to choose their best route every day. This week, we launched a new feature in the Linkt app for our Victorian customers, who can now see their estimated travel time savings for the previous month.
We think that data like this will help customers better understand the value they receive when they choose our roads. Our ability to deliver real value in the eyes of our customers is what allows us to successfully partner with governments and participate in new growth opportunities. How we work with governments has been front of mind for a long time, but we recognize there's always room to improve. Let me give you a current example: the toll reform process in New South Wales. We've long been advocates of toll reform, and we've been engaging with the New South Wales Government for some time on how the system can be improved. Every day, Sydney drivers make more than 1 million trips on our roads. This demonstrates the value they see in the AUD 36 billion investment that we and our partners have made in Sydney over the past 20 years.
We're pleased to see that the review recommends existing contracts are honored. We're also pleased that the review includes some other important initiatives: a simpler toll notice process, better on-road signage, and establishing a customer advocate. Over the coming months, we'll continue to actively and constructively work with the New South Wales Government to build on the review and explore outcomes that are better for Sydney and protect the value of our investment. We're mindful that both value and distributions are important to our security holders. Working collaboratively with governments also means designing transport solutions that meet the needs of our cities, not only today, but well into the future. This is why we're partnering with the New South Wales Government on the M7/M12 Integration Project in Sydney, which will service the new Western Sydney Airport.
In Queensland, the Logan West Upgrade will keep this critical region moving and take thousands of trucks off local roads. These are great examples of how working to common goals creates the best outcomes for communities and longer-term value and distribution growth for our security holders. We are a growth business. Whether you're looking at everyday traffic growth or our expanding portfolio, we have enormous potential ahead of us. We know that populations are increasing in all of our markets, and this brings a very real need for more transport infrastructure. In our existing markets, over 85% of our assets have the potential to be enhanced to increase capacity. Our 16-kilometer extension to the 95 Express Lanes in Fredericksburg, Virginia, is a great example. It opened just over a year ago and is saving drivers up to one hour off their daily round-trip commute.
We have a number of other projects being actively delivered or worked on in the Greater Washington area, and of course, we're looking forward to the opening of the West Gate Tunnel Project here in Melbourne. Now, projects like these are naturally complex, and they're not done until they're done. That's why we've supplemented our executive team to include more engineering, major project, and construction experience. As a lifelong Melburnian, I remember CityLink opening twenty-five years ago, and what a huge difference it made. Getting to the airport no longer meant weaving through inner-city suburbs and potentially missing your flight. I think it will be the same for the West Gate Tunnel Project. We'll look back and wonder how we ever relied on a single river crossing, the West Gate Bridge, to travel across the city.
Direct connections to the Port of Melbourne will allow freight to move around the city more efficiently, and communities in the inner west will see over 9,000 trucks a day removed from their local streets. We're also actively exploring potential new markets that have the key characteristics that we look for and where we could have a strategic advantage. We're thinking broadly and creatively about ideas and projects we can bring to new markets. As you saw in our traffic release this morning, our North American assets are performing well, delivering sound returns to us and our partners. We see further potential in this region, and at our Investor Day in May, we highlighted a number of cities that we're keeping an eye on. Partnering is something we do well, and we continue to explore strategic partnerships to further our growth ambitions.
But this is not about growth for growth's sake. We need to see alignment to our business strategy, the right market characteristics, and the right financial outcomes. We've deliberately stepped away from some opportunities that did not meet these criteria. We will continue to approach new opportunities in a disciplined and sustainable way to support long-term value and distribution growth. Alongside these opportunities, we're looking at a number of emerging technology trends that offer excellent prospects to grow our business in new ways. We've trialed connected and autonomous vehicles, or CAVs, and we're using AI to improve road safety and efficiency, and we're continually investing in innovative technology to get more out of our assets. Many of our roads now include thousands of pieces of new technology that improve safety and efficiency for all customers.
These are exactly the types of ideas that we bring to the table and how we demonstrate our points of difference when we explore new opportunities. As we work to harness these growth opportunities, we've taken a fresh look at how our core business is set up. This is about making sure we're operating efficiently, removing duplication, and taking a whole-of-business approach to the way we work. We've updated our operating model as part of this process and refreshed our executive team to ensure we have the right capabilities and insights around the table. As Craig touched on, we've also worked really hard to manage our cost growth, and you can see from our FY 2024 numbers that these efforts are already having a real impact, with more of our traffic performance flowing through to free cash.
With the new operating model now in place, it's fantastic to see our people energized by our many achievements this year and by the opportunities that lie ahead of us. I look forward to updating you with our continued progress. To finish, I'd like to thank my fellow board members and my Executive Committee colleagues for all your support in my first twelve months as CEO, and I'd like to recognize the whole Transurban team for your commitment and enthusiasm this year. Thank you also to our security holders for your continued support. We don't take this for granted. Now, we've touched on some important milestones for our business today: twenty-five years in Melbourne, ten years in Brisbane, and coming up to twenty years in Sydney. Our roads play a vital role in the livability and productivity of these cities. It's hard to imagine how we'd move around without them.
So before I hand back to Craig, we have another short video highlighting how our continued investment is helping these cities avoid congestion as they grow.
A quarter of a century ago, with the opening of CityLink in Melbourne, Transurban's first project became a reality. It is, without a doubt, one of the most important links into our future. Once it's opened, I think they'll find it's the best thing to happen to Melbourne. This year marks another important milestone in our history. A decade in Brisbane with our partners, including AustralianSuper. Two decades ago, our Sydney story was about to begin with the Westlink M7. I'm confident that nothing like this in the next hundred years will be delivered to Western Sydney, this big or have that much a profound impact.
Our roads are helping even more people and goods move around our cities. Since our first road opened, Australia's population has grown by more than 40%. In Sydney, there's almost a million more people than a decade ago, yet a trip in the morning peak from Parramatta to the CBD is almost 25 minutes faster than in 2014, thanks to WestConnex. Sonny, have you tested the new tunnel? Yes, mate, I've just come out of it in my semi. Very good, Ben. Very good indeed. Thirty minutes from Seven Hills to Cooks River, Ben. That is fantastic. What's it like? Excellent, mate. I just got on at Homebush Bay and out at Mascot in 18 minutes. Happy days!
Doing deliveries, mate, to construction sites. It's a big game-changer for me. By choosing our roads, our Australian customers are saving more than one million liters of fuel every workday. Toll roads are an advantage to Russell Transport. We're able to deliver our goods in a shorter timeframe. There is a lot of savings for us, less time on road, fuel, wear and tear on the equipment, and in the end, a happier customer. Without our roads, congestion would be tripled. If WestConnex shut tomorrow, that trip from Parramatta to the CBD would take over an hour during the morning peak, instead of around 30 minutes. No NorthConnex, and a trip from Hornsby to Pennant Hills in the morning peak would go from 12 minutes now to 27 minutes. That road removes 9,000 trucks a day from suburban streets.
It's a major difference now. All the noise and the traffic on the Pennant Hills Road is now nonexistent. Transurban is continuing to build for the future. In Western Sydney, the M7/M12 Integration Project will soon provide the crucial link to the city's new airport. The West Gate Tunnel Project is nearing completion in Melbourne, and in Queensland, we're working with the government to expand the Logan Motorway. So we're partnering with Transurban. This is a great project that'll mean congestion busting in this part of the world going forward into the future. Whether it's through new projects, innovative solutions, customer-focused technology, or planning transport of the future, we plan on being part of the growth of our cities for many more decades to come.
Thank you, Michelle. Transcripts of my address and that of the CEO are available on the Transurban website and on the ASX. Before we move to the formalities, I'll begin by outlining the procedures for today's meetings. These are security holder meetings. As in the past years, only security holders, their attorneys, proxies, and corporate representatives are permitted to vote and ask questions. With the hybrid meeting format, there are three ways questions can be asked. For those attending in person, you may ask a question if you hold a blue or red card. When I invite questions later in the meeting, please make your way to the fixed microphone point and provide your name to the microphone attendant. If you are unable to make your way to the microphone, please raise your hand, and we will bring a roving microphone to you.
We will take questions following the introduction of all items of business. For those attending online, you may submit written questions through the online platform by clicking on the Q&A icon and following the prompts. Written questions can be submitted at any time. To help with the smooth running of the meetings, we ask online participants to submit your questions now. If you are attending online and wish to ask a question verbally, you will need to follow the instructions below the broadcast window. We recommend that you wait until the question time begins before connecting the audio line to minimize the time queuing to ask your question. Questions, which may be moderated, grouped, or summarized, will come through to me as chair of the meetings, and I will either answer it myself, or I'll pass it on to the most appropriate person to answer it.
If a security holder has a question that relates to the online meeting technology, please contact the helpline detailed in our AGM online participation guide, published on our website. To enable all security holders a reasonable opportunity to ask questions, you are requested to ask no more than two questions at a time. Please keep your questions short and to the point, so that as many people as possible have the chance to ask a question. Please ensure your question is relevant to security holders as a whole. If you are an eligible security holder, a representative or attorney of an eligible security holder, or a proxy for an eligible security holder, you are entitled to vote. For those attending the meetings in person, at registration, you should have been issued with a blue admission and voting card.
If you are representing or are a proxy for more than one security holder, you will have been provided with a separate admission and voting card for each separate capacity in which you are attending the meetings. Relevant voting instructions are printed on the reverse of your blue card. When you complete your card, please indicate the manner in which the votes are to be cast by placing a mark in the for, against, or abstain box for each resolution. If you have difficulty in completing your voting card, please raise your hand, and a representative from Computershare will assist you. You do not need to put the percentage or number of votes you are voting, unless you wish to do so. Before placing your voting card in the collection box, please ensure that you print your name on the bottom of the card.
At the conclusion of the meetings, please place your voting card in one of the collection boxes located near the exit. If you are attending the meetings online and are eligible to vote, a vote icon will appear on your screen. Selecting this icon will bring up the list of resolutions and present you with voting options. To cast your vote, simply select one of the options, for, against, or abstain for each resolution. A tick will appear to confirm receipt of your vote. You can change your vote at any time up until the poll closes by selecting Click here to change your vote. Proxy holders are reminded that you must vote in accordance with the proxy holder's directions.
Any directed proxies that are not voted at the meetings will automatically default to the chair of the meetings, and as chair, I am required to vote those proxies as directed. All proxies that are open and available to the chair of the meetings will be voted in favor of the relevant resolutions. Again, if you require any assistance, please contact our securities registry, Computershare Investor Services. Doris Grave of Computershare will act as Returning Officer. I appoint Ewan Barron of PwC, the group's independent external auditor, to be the scrutineer for all resolutions. The results of today's meetings will be announced following the meetings on the ASX and on Transurban's website. I'll now turn to the formal items of business at today's meeting. The notice of meetings set out information regarding items for consideration at today's meetings.
I'll introduce each item of business separately and then invite questions on all items of business together after all items have been introduced. We have four items of business today. Items two to four include resolutions that require a vote. Item one is the receipt and consideration of the Transurban Group financial report for the year ended June 30th, 2024. This has been approved by your board and provided to you with Transurban's 2024 corporate report. It is also available on Transurban's website. There is no need to pass a resolution on the financial report. However, security holders and proxy holders are welcome to ask questions in relation to the accounts or the overall activities of the group. As previously mentioned, we will take questions following the introduction of all items of business.
Security holders and proxy holders will also be given a reasonable opportunity to ask Ewan Barron of PwC questions relevant to the conduct of the audit, the preparation and content of the auditor's report, the accounting policies adopted in preparation of the financial statements, and the auditor's independence. All questions to the auditor should, in the first instance, be addressed to me as chair, and if appropriate, I will ask Mr. Barron to address the meetings. Item two of business on the agenda concerns the re-election of directors. Gary Lennon was appointed as an independent non-executive director in March 2024. Gary is currently a member of the Audit and Risk Committee and the Nomination Committee.
Gary has over thirty-five years of extensive financial, accounting, risk management, treasury, and strategic experience across financial services and is an experienced chief financial officer who has held senior leadership roles in the banking sector across Australia, New Zealand, and Asia. A copy of Gary's bio is set out in the notice of meetings. In accordance with the constitutions of Transurban Holdings Limited and Transurban International Limited, Gary offers himself for election. I reconfirm the board's view that Gary's deep accounting, financial, risk management, treasury, and strategic experience is highly valued by the board.
In recommending his election, the board notes that Gary has confirmed that he will continue to have sufficient time to fulfill his duties as a director and recognizes his contribution as a valued member of the Audit and Risk Committee and the Nomination Committee. The directors, other than Gary, unanimously recommend his election. I'll now ask Gary to address the meetings.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Good morning, ladies and gentlemen. I was fortunate to have been appointed to the board of Transurban in March this year. This followed my relatively recent retirement as Chief Financial Officer of the National Australia Bank. Today, I offer myself for election to the board of Transurban. I do so on the basis that I have the time available to work diligently for security holders. I view Transurban as a great Australian company that plays a critical role in the cities in which we operate. It has a high-quality management team and board committed to making the lives of customers and communities better. It would be truly a privilege and an honor to continue to serve on this board. I believe my experience and skill set will be highly relevant to Transurban.
Specifically, this includes thirty-five years' experience, mostly in senior finance roles, across Australia, New Zealand, the U.K., and Asia. My recent experience includes seven years as Chief Financial Officer of National Australia Bank and four years as a non-executive director of the Bank of New Zealand. These more recent roles have given me considerable insight into highly regulated, large public company management and governance. I also have an honors degree in economics from the University of Sydney, and am a fellow of the Australian Institute of Chartered Accountants. Should I be fortunate to be elected today to the board of Transurban, the areas of expertise that I will bring to the company includes accounting and finance, treasury and risk management, along with extensive regulatory and capital markets knowledge.
Thank you for considering my appointment, and I assure you, I will engage constructively with management and my colleagues on the board for the benefit of you, as well as for the customers and communities in which we serve. Thank you.
Thank you, Gary. As I'm standing for re-election, I will hand over the chair to Peter Scott.
Good morning, ladies and gentlemen. Thank you, Craig. I now move to propose the re-election of Craig Drummond as a non-executive director. Craig was appointed as an independent non-executive director in July 2021, and chair of the board in October 2022. He is the chair of the Nominations Committee and a member of the Audit and Risk Committee. Craig has over 30 years experience in financial and regulated services industries. He has extensive experience across all facets of company management, including equity and debt capital markets, risk management, and business strategy. A copy of Craig's bio is set out in the notice of meetings. In accordance with the constitutions of Transurban Holdings Limited and Transurban International Limited, Craig offers himself for re-election.
I confirm that the board's view that Craig is an experienced chair, who plays a key role in the dynamic and success of this board. His contributions as an experienced director in financial, strategic, and operational expertise across various sectors are highly regarded by the board. In recommending his re-election, the board notes that Craig has confirmed that he will have sufficient time to fulfill the duties as a director and chair of Transurban, and recognises his valued contributions as the chair of the board and the Nominations Committee, and a member of the Audit and Risk Committee. The directors, other than Craig, unanimously recommend his re-election. I will now ask Craig to address the meetings.
Thank you, Peter, and I think we're still morning? Yeah. Good morning, again, ladies and gentlemen. I was fortunate, as Peter said, to have been appointed to the board of Transurban on July 1st, 2021, and to the position of Chair on October 20th, 2022 , following the retirement of Lindsay Maxted. In offering myself for re-election, I do so on the basis that I have the time available to work diligently for security holders in a thoughtful and collaborative way. Furthermore, I believe that my experience and skill set remains highly relevant to Transurban. Specifically, this includes thirty years of working in financial markets, and then eight years as a public company executive across two large-listed public companies.
This career path culminated in becoming Chief Executive of the Australian operations of two large global investment banks, the Chief Financial Officer of an Australian bank, and the Chief Executive Officer of an ASX 50 company. The latter two roles gave me considerable insight into large public company management and governance, and in my other public company role today as chairman of Australian Foundation Investment Company, I gain a great insight into the key issues that investors consider important when contemplating investment in companies such as Transurban. So having both an investor and an investee perspective is extremely helpful, I believe, in my role on the Transurban board.
Should I be fortunate to be re-elected today to the board of Transurban, the specific areas of expertise that I will bring to the company will include a deep financial skill set, a customer and risk management insight, along with extensive regulatory, stakeholder, and capital markets knowledge and connectivity. Thank you for considering my re-election to the Transurban board, and I look forward to your support.
My task now is to hand the meeting back to Craig. Thank you.
Thanks, Peter. I now move to the proposed re-election of Tim Reed as non-executive director. Tim was appointed as an independent non-executive director in November 2020. Tim is currently a member of the Remuneration, People and Culture Committee and the Nomination Committee. Tim has over 30 years' experience in technology, marketing, strategy, and business development, gained from various roles held in Asia, Europe, the U.S., and Australia. A copy of Tim's bio is set out in the notice of meetings. In accordance with the constitutions of Transurban Holdings Limited and Transurban International Limited, Tim offers himself for re-election. I reconfirm the board's view that Tim brings deep experience and expertise in technology, marketing, strategy, and business development, and his insights and expertise in technology and digital innovation are highly regarded by the board.
In recommending his re-election, the board notes that Tim has confirmed that he will continue to have sufficient capacity to fulfill his duties as a director, and recognizes his contribution as a valued member of the Remuneration, People and Culture Committee and the Nomination Committee. The directors, other than Tim, unanimously recommend his re-election, and I'll now ask Tim to address the meetings.
Thank you, Craig, and good morning, everyone. It is a privilege to be here with you all today. I've had the pleasure of being part of the Transurban board for the past four years, and remain as impressed by the professionalism, the passion, and the energy that my board colleagues, the executive team, very ably led by Michelle, and the broader Transurban team bring to this great business every day. Transurban plays a critical role in our communities. We link communities. We allow people to travel faster, more safely, and with a lower environmental impact than they otherwise may be able to do. Importantly, we also free up critical government funds that can then be invested in other needs in our community.
The board and the executive team know that we only have a license to operate so long as we look to all stakeholders, importantly, our security holders here today, but also towards improving outcomes for the communities in which we serve. As a director, I work as part of a team, whereby I bring unique experiences and views, different perspectives than the other directors and executives at Transurban. I have experience as an ASX CEO. I have both executive and non-executive experience across a number of data, technology, and digital-related businesses, and through my time leading the Business Council of Australia, I have direct involvement working with governments, both at a political level and with public servants.
As Transurban's business model continues to evolve into one where customer insights, where data, where the role of digital technologies, and the risk of cybersecurity continue to become larger, I believe I have the opportunity to bring experience and informed views on these critical matters to the Transurban board. I think increasingly most businesses are becoming at least partially digital, and it's my hope that the decades that I've spent in forming these sorts of strategies and businesses brings experience which is relevant to Transurban. In closing, I'm excited to be here. I believe in the importance of the work that Transurban does every single day, and I look forward to continuing to serve the board with pride if you give me that opportunity. Thank you.
Thank you, Tim. I'd like to remind attendees that we will continue, we will take the questions following the introduction of all remaining items of business. I'll now move to the proposed re-election of Rob Whitfield as a non-executive director. Rob was appointed as an independent non-executive director in November 2020. Rob is currently chair of the Audit and Risk Committee and a member of the Remuneration, People, and Culture Committee and the Nomination Committee. Rob has extensive financial risk and capital markets experience in senior management roles across the public and private sectors. A copy of Rob's bio is set out in the notice of meetings. In accordance with the constitutions of Transurban Holdings Limited and Transurban International Limited, Rob offers himself for re-election.
I reconfirm the board's view that Rob makes a very important contribution to the board, given his deep experience in the finance and government sectors, and his extensive risk and capital markets experience across both the private and public sectors. In recommending his re-election, the board notes that Rob has confirmed that he will continue to have sufficient capacity to fulfill his duties as a director and recognizes his valued contributions as chair of the Audit and Risk Committee and member of the Remuneration, People, and Culture Committee and Nominations Committee. The directors, other than Rob, unanimously recommend his re-election. I'll now ask Rob to address the meetings.
Thank you, Craig. Ladies and gentlemen, my name is Rob Whitfield. I was appointed to the board of Transurban in November 2020, and it has absolutely been a privilege to serve as a non-executive director for the last 4 years. It's an honor to seek re-election today to your board. I currently serve as a non-executive director of the Commonwealth Bank of Australia since 2017, and I chair their Risk and Compliance Committee. I'm also a member of the Council of the Australian National University. I bring over 30 years of banking and finance skills and experience from senior roles across both the private and public sectors, particularly in risk management, treasury activities, and stakeholder engagement.
Infrastructure plays an indispensable role in all our lives, and as one of the world's leading road operators, Transurban helps people get to where they want to go as quickly and as safely as possible. My last executive role was as the Secretary of the Treasury for the New South Wales Government, and in that role, I had the opportunity to support record infrastructure spending and see the positive economic and social impacts well-planned infrastructure can play and contribute to our communities. This is where my passion for Transurban's purpose originates.
My career has demonstrated leadership skills, strategy development, including mergers and acquisitions, global portfolio management, innovation, and customer service. Importantly, Transurban's values resonate deeply with me, particularly integrity, accountability, and respect. As an experienced non-executive director, I look forward, with your support, to continue to diligently apply my capabilities and contribute to the collective skills of our board. I have the capacity and the commitment to help govern Transurban as we navigate the challenges and opportunities in fulfilling our purpose. Thanks very much.
Thank you, Rob. Item three of business on the agenda is the adoption of the Remuneration Report of Transurban Holdings Limited and Transurban International Limited for the financial year ended June 30th, 2024 . Voting on the resolution in this item of business is advisory only. Transurban's remuneration strategy is designed to enable and drive our business strategy and sustainable long-term growth. The report aims to provide you with an understanding of the links between Transurban's strategy, its performance, and executive remuneration, as well as the framework we have in place to ensure effective governance of remuneration matters. The report also details the FY 24 remuneration arrangements and outcomes for our directors and senior executives.
In determining the remuneration outcomes for FY 24, the board assessed Transurban's performance in terms of the financial and non-financial measures set out in the group's performance scorecard, and took into consideration the alignment with security holder experiences. The group FY 24 short-term incentive outcome was 92.9% of target, with a year-on-year increase in EBITDA of 7.5% and distribution growth of approximately 7%, aligning STI outcomes with the experience of security holders. In determining the STI outcomes of the CEO and executive key management personnel, the board considered both individual performance and the factors that have contributed to the overall group result. The board considers the resulting STI outcomes to be aligned with the experience and expectations of security holders. I now turn to the final item of business.
Item four on the agenda is the approval of the proposed grant of performance awards to the CEO and Managing Director, Michelle Jablko, under the Transurban Group's long-term incentive plan. The terms of the proposed grant are set out in the Explanatory Notes in the notice of meetings. If security holder approval is obtained, performance awards will be granted to Michelle Jablko as part of her FY 25 remuneration package. Each performance award entitles her to one fully paid ordinary Transurban stapled security at the end of the four-year performance period, subject to satisfaction of two equally weighted performance measures. The first measure is relative total shareholder return, measured against a bespoke comparator group. The second measure is free cash flow per security, which reflects the Transurban Group's focus on maximizing free cash to drive security holder return.
Approval is being sought to grant a total number of performance awards to the CEO, not exceeding 241,676 . In a moment, I'll invite questions on all items of business. Before I do, details of the proxies received for each item of business is shown on the screen. We encourage security holders to submit questions in advance of the meetings. I'll now address a question received prior to the meetings before turning to questions in the room and online. If you have a question, please make your way to the microphone now. Fiona, can you read the first question, please?
Chair, we have received the following question from Mr. and Mrs. Nicholas: Why doesn't Transurban send notice of meetings and proxy forms by post?
Thank you for that question. What I would say is, every security holder has the opportunity to list their preferences with Computershare, and I suspect that the preference may have been listed by post. Like many of us, things have changed. Maybe that preference hasn't been updated, but I would suggest to the, to all shareholders who are seeking to get their, their notifications from all listed companies, if they are no longer wanting to receive it by post, that they contact Computershare. You can do it online, and if you're not comfortable doing it online, Computershare has a, dedicated phone line that you can ring and simply change your preference. So I think it's really that one is a relatively straightforward one. Thank you. Yes, go into the room.
Thank you, Chair. We have a quick question here from Michael Muntisov from the Australian Shareholders Association.
Good morning. It's 12:00 P.M. exactly, actually. My name is Michael Muntisov, and I'm from the Australian Shareholders Association. Today, I hold proxies from 317 security holders, accounting for approximately 2.2 million votes. I've got a couple of questions. I'll start with this one. First of all, the ASA would like to acknowledge that Transurban this year published its Director Skills Matrix in the Annual Report on page 76, if people would like to refer to it, and we see that as a very welcome initiative. The skills matrix still shows a relative weakness in project delivery and engineering expertise, which we see as important skills for a company like Transurban. Current director, Peter Scott, who we've heard from this morning, has engineering qualifications, but he is in his final term as a director.
What steps is the company taking to strengthen these skills and fill the gap that Peter will leave?
Thank you for your question, Mike. So both at an executive level, Michelle has made two important hires at an executive level at the, at the top table, so at the Executive Committee, hiring Nicole Stoddart and, as of yesterday, hired Dave Clements into her team as well. Both have civil engineering background and experience, significant experience. So I think at the executive level, once the former Chief Executive left, given his engineering background, Michelle's made some very strong appointments in the executive team. At a board level, we are conscious that Peter will be finishing his third and final term at the end of next year. We are currently in the market to hire a board member with civil engineering experience, significant civil engineering experience.
But what I would say is we also hired Sarah Ryan over the past nine months, and Sarah comes with significant major infrastructure experience, garnered both internationally and locally. But your question's a good one, and the board is onto it. Thank you.
Thank you. The Annual Report gives the impression that Transurban is prioritizing brownfield projects on its existing assets over new greenfield projects. In your speech, Michelle, today, you highlighted that 85% of your assets have the potential to be enhanced. Could you comment on whether that perception is correct, that you are prioritizing enhancement projects, and whether the company's risk profile has changed?
I'm gonna pass to Michelle to give her response, but what I'd say to you, Mike, is the board considers all potential opportunities, which will include greenfield and brownfield. But at this point in time, there's probably a little more opportunity in the brownfield area. But Michelle, I'll pass to you.
Yeah, I agree. We, Thank you for the question. We look at both, and we're open to all of it. It comes down to where the need is and how well we know it and how we assess the risks at any particular point in time. Right now, as we look at the cities we're in, we can see some natural opportunities for expansion, like the Logan in Queensland, where there's already congestion, or the M7 in Sydney, but we're certainly open to greenfields if the right opportunities come up.
Thank you.
Thank you. Do we have any more questions in the room? If not, we'll go online, 'cause I know there are questions there. We do have one.
John, who are you representing today? Chair, we have John, John Parish, and he's representing himself today.
Okay. Thank you.
Good afternoon, Mr. Chairman. It's now afternoon time, and thanks for the presentations. I've just got an issue as a follow-up from Michael Muntisov's question, that I don't think you need me to remind you that over the last five years, the share price, the unit price at Transurban's gone nowhere, and the total shareholder return's been about zero or pretty close to it. But of course, the major reason for that was COVID, and you have no control over that. But there is another opinion going round that I've seen several times now, that Transurban is ex-growth, and Michelle was just talking about that.
But with the completion of the major projects in Sydney, NorthConnex and WestConnex, and almost the major project here in Melbourne, the West Gate Tunnel, there doesn't seem to be too much more on the horizon in the major form of projects, and it really just seems to be extending and widening existing freeways. Of course, that could be enough. But I had a look on page thirteen of the Annual Report at opportunities, and I was a bit puzzled, because the next five years in Sydney, the only opportunity listed is the toll reform process. And from what I've read, the regulators and the government just want tolls to be reduced, and I can't see how that's gonna benefit Transurban. And then I get into the second major market here in Melbourne, and the next five years, EastLink.
My understanding is EastLink's been sold to private equity, and you're, of course, prevented from bidding because of the ACCC, and you didn't appeal that decision, so I can't see how EastLink's going to be of any benefit. And then, the time after that, the following five years is North East Link. That's being built by the government now, and I assume that will be sold, 'cause they're out of money, of course. That'll be sold when it's finished. But I would have expected the ACCC to say, "No, you can't bid for that either." So can you enlighten me on those matters, and-
Sure.
... and do you think really that all these opinions going round that Transurban is ex-growth really are false, so?
I'm not sure. You know, again, I'm not sure. I'll pass to Michelle in a moment. I'm not sure there's all these opinions. There are. I acknowledge there are some views, and some investment houses have taken that view. But I think, you know, if you look at our current portfolio, whether it be Logan. You know, you'd be reasonably certain something ultimately has to happen on Gateway, the M7 expansion in Sydney. We've got two projects currently in North America. I think there are, at the moment. There's not a AUD 10 billion big greenfield project, but we have got a handy number of projects in the foreseeable future. But I'll pass to Michelle.
... Yep, thank you, Chair, and thank you very much for your question. And certainly, we're all about helping create long-term sustainable value for you, so I totally understand where the question's coming from. We don't believe we're ex-growth at all. We actually think the future is quite exciting for us. It starts, in my mind, with first principles. We're in growing cities, where the population growth's gonna be quite significant, and as cities grow, people need to move around, and they need their goods moved around. Exactly what those projects are, you know, there'll be a list of things that are not on, in that slide in the Annual Report because we work those through with governments and work out what makes sense.
What we are focused on, and we strongly believe, is that if we add real value for customers in ways that are evident, so we're seen as the best providers, we manage our relationships as good partners, and we understand what's gonna be important, those opportunities will come. We're seeing signs of that, so the Logan expansion we announced recently is a good example. There's a number of projects in Virginia, in North America, we're working on, and we think there'll be many more to come. Yeah.
Can you comment a bit further on those three projects that were listed? The toll, well, not a project, the toll review, then EastLink, and North East Link b ecause I really can't see how that is going to help Transurban, but of course, I could be missing something.
Well, that, that's always a question for government in terms of what they wanna do through the process. I think through toll reform in New South Wales, we've got the opportunity to be a good partner, which we're being, protect the value of the investment we've made, but really help set up Sydney, you know, for the future, you know, for decades to come, and I think the way we're engaging there is very constructive, and we'll work through that. North East Link in Melbourne, the government has said they will look to do something at some point in time. That will be up to them what they choose to do, so I can't comment on that.
EastLink was a very specific situation, where it ended up being a minority investment that was traded in an asset where we decided our relationship with the government was more important than that particular asset. But, you know, they're sort of point in time answers.
Okay, thank you.
We might go online. Fiona, thank you.
Chair, we have a question from Mr. Stephen Mayne. Two quick questions on tax on the accounts: How is it that we're still not paying corporate tax, and that we were able to distribute AUD 1.9 billion to shareholders, despite only reporting a net profit of AUD 260 million? Also, when reporting toll revenue in our accounts, does this include GST? Is there an argument for doing it another way?
Okay, so the Stephen, thank you for your question. The fundamental reason why we're not paying tax, although I would caveat that, we have entities that are paying tax, but at a group level, we're not disclosed as a taxpayer, is because we have significant ongoing depreciation on major projects that is leading to a deferral of tax. But we will be paying tax, and our current expectation is that we probably get to a group tax paid position in 2027, and 2027, maybe 2028. It'll depend, but that's our best estimate. So, Stephen, without further major greenfield projects that would lead to further significant upfront depreciation, that's the response, that we are moving into a tax paid position. In terms of your question on GST, the concessions require us.
My understanding is the concessions require us to include that within the toll. So there won't actually be any GST disclosed in the financial accounts, but it will be wrapped up within the revenue line, and that is a state government requirement under the concessions.
Chair, we have a question from Mr. Lawrence Sayers: With yesterday's ABC Four Corners story, together with the cost of living crisis, does the board consider Transurban's social license at risk with decades to run on concession deeds that have locked in above-inflation toll indexation on its road portfolio?
Having come out of my last role in healthcare, I've spent a fair bit of time in social license-related issues and dealing with government stakeholders. So what I would say is it is absolutely imperative, and this is where the board's head has been for, now a few years, and the executive's head is very deeply involved, is making sure that we bring, absolute value to our customers, we explain our customer value proposition, and we do everything we can to ensure that whenever customers have got, concerns or complaints, that we deal with them, quickly, promptly, and respectfully. And so the board, the board is very focused. We now have, every board meeting, we have extensive customer conversations. We've had.
Every board member has been sitting in the customer complaints team, over the last, in fact, over the last week, every board member has listened to customer complaints, and I think until you get heavily involved in the front line as a board, you can't begin to understand the experience that customers are having, so I think what you're seeing with your board and with your management is we are getting deeply involved in customer lives, customer outcomes. Our digital experience has been substantially reinvested in, and Michelle, there's probably some other comments that you'd like to make, but I feel, and of course, we have to acknowledge that customers and all stakeholder expectations continue to shift, and the board has to be aware of that and shift with it, as does management.
And so it's a very good question. It's a very relevant question for all, business-to-consumer-related companies, that businesses that deliver into consumers. And so making sure that we are very focused on value and bringing value and being very transparent to our customers is key.
I think you've covered it well.
Thank you.
Yeah.
Chair, we have a question from Mr. Stephen Mayne in relation to item two, A, election of Gary Lennon. Did Gary Lennon watch Four Corners last night? What did he think of it, and does he agree with Allan Fels and Tony Shepherd that there should be far more public disclosure on various contracts covering our eleven toll roads in Sydney? Does the chair also have a view on the contract disclosure issue?
So I can be 100% confident that every director on this board watched Four Corners last night, and for anyone that may have been caught by a family commitment, they have subsequently followed up with watching it on the ABC app. So Stephen, I don't think Gary will need to specifically comment on that. I know he's watched it. Gary's views on this are similar to, I think to the rest of the board, having had the conversation with him, that. It goes back to the comments I made just a moment ago on doing more and communicating in a more transparent way.
Every major public company that deals with consumers are facing these issues, and part of it's using assets like your digital assets, but part of it is also having the right resources and the right focus of the executive and the board, and the board is holding management to account on this issue, so sorry, the second part of that question was on contracts?
That's right.
This is a difficult one for us to comment right now, simply because we are in a process with the New South Wales Government. But what I can say to you is that in the spirit of just following the comments I made about transparency, we will be working with our partners to provide an outcome that makes sense for them and us. But unfortunately, I can't say a lot because we are constrained in what we can say in dealing with the New South Wales Government at this point in time.
Chair, we have another question from Mr. Stephen Mayne in relation to item two, B, re-election of yourself. As chair of the board and an experienced former CEO, and given what is happening in New South Wales, could Craig Drummond offer his perspective on the question of sovereign risk and the reliability of contracts, particularly when dealing with state governments? The Queensland Government dramatically increased coal royalties three years ago, costing the industry more than AUD 10 billion a year in extra taxes at the top of the cycle. Similarly, the Queensland, Victorian, and New South Wales Government all effectively tore up casino contracts with Star and Crown, significantly impairing value. How vulnerable are we in terms of suffering at the hands of these three governments, and are you confident our toll road concession contracts will stand up in court?
Finally, is it correct that these governments could just legislate our contracts out of existence if they wanted to run the gauntlet of sovereign risk? If that happened, who would be standing in the trenches with us?
It's a long and detailed question, and I suppose my response would be a pretty simple one, and that is that all of the stakeholders in this process have acknowledged that the contracts that we currently have are going to be respected. That doesn't mean that there won't be some collaborative work, and all of our partners, including Transurban, is very, very keen and has made it very clear to the New South Wales Government that we wanna be collaborative and work closely with them, and I think our working relationship at the moment is a sensible, pragmatic, and cooperative relationship. And so I, you know, our expectation is that we get to a sensible outcome.
As Michelle said, you know, we've invested with our partners AUD 36 billion over the last 20 years in New South Wales, and I think, you know, we do need to acknowledge, and sometimes it's lost in some of the narrative, the benefits that we are bringing and our partners are also bringing to these communities. You know, it's not well. In the narrative you saw last night, it's not well highlighted that we save our customers, our roads, on average, save our customers about 30% of their fuel bill. They save a third of their carbon emissions. We're getting travel time savings from Blacktown to the airport of on average, about 45 minutes. We're getting travel time savings of 30 minutes in a city of 5.5 million, like Melbourne, going down CityLink.
And then look at safety. It's twice as safe on our roads. These are benefits. I think we probably need to do, as a company, a better job at making sure we explain the value proposition, because sometimes we can take these for granted in very busy, highly populated, concentrated areas.
Chair, we have a question from Mr. Dale Ferguson: Can Transurban assure shareholders that the recent unrest in Queensland operations will not negatively impact the company's share price or overall financial performance?
It's been reported in the press that we've had a handful of whistleblower issues in our Queensland operation, and what I would say to you is in any large public company where there are thousands of people, occasionally you do get, well, actually, it's quite a regular event, you do get whistleblower complaints, and it's very, very important that management and the board take them seriously, and I can 100% guarantee you that we do take them seriously. So we have had a handful of those in our Queensland operation, and what I'd say is your board engaged external legal support to thoroughly review what had happened in that portion of our Queensland business. And what I can categorically say to you today, that that report discovered no illegal, criminal, or horrible behavior.
It probably uncovered some things that were, I'd say, a bit sloppy, and as a result, we have made some changes on that front. But I did want to highlight that this is, it's an important issue for the individuals concerned, but in terms of the total group of Transurban, it is a small matter. But Michelle?
Yeah, could I just add, nothing that Craig has mentioned undermines the quality of the people we have in Queensland or the quality of the business. So there were some issues, we dealt with them, but it doesn't undermine the quality of the business at all.
Chair, we have a question from Mr. Stephen Mayne in relation to item two D, re-election of Rob Whitfield. We seem to have a lot of senior Big Four bankers on the board, which is probably appropriate, given we have the largest overall debt in any ASX-listed company, albeit largely secured against individual toll road assets as opposed to at the corporate level. Rob Whitfield spent thirty years at Westpac, but also chaired the New South Wales Government's central borrowing authority, TCorp. Could Rob provide his perspective on whether we should be carrying so much debt while paying out almost AUD 2 billion a year in distributions to shareholders?
Could he also address the sovereign risk issue, particularly in terms of the current situation in New South Wales, where the government is attempting to renegotiate our long-term contracts after we paid them tens of billions of AUD for control of these infrastructure assets?
I'm gonna pass to Rob in just a moment. But I think it's a reasonable question, and it's one to your point, Stephen, there are a lot of banking and finance people on our board. But given as you say, the leverage that we have, it's we think it's entirely appropriate, and it's validated by an ongoing investment grade rating from Moody's and S&P. And Rob, I might pass to you.
Thanks, Chair, and I was going to emphasize the same couple of points. So thank you, Stephen, for the question. It absolutely is an appropriate question. We do hold a very significant amount of debt. We have high-quality assets. They command the opportunity to raise that debt against those assets, and the concessions we have with great governments around the world and great partners means that that debt is appropriate. Importantly, we spend a lot of time in the Audit and Risk Committee in the governance aspects associated with that debt management program. Very importantly, the amount of debt we have in total is capped by the intention to maintain our strong investment grade rating. And so, Stephen, as I'm sure you're aware, we've got a triple B + rating and A BB and a Baa 1 rating.
And so the amount of debt we hold is contingent on the intention to maintain those strong investment grade ratings. In terms of the second part of your question on sovereign risk, I think Craig's already answered that question.
Stephen, I'd just add to Rob's comment that, having a maturity profile of 6.7 years, average maturity profile of 6.7 years, and we have, I would say from my experience, we have a very high caliber treasury team that makes sure we schedule our debt across multi jurisdictions, multi currencies, and very appropriately. So I feel, to underline Rob's comments, I feel entirely comfortable with where we are, but it continues to require scrutiny from the board, which it will. Fiona, any others?
Yes, Chair. We have another question from Mr. Stephen Mayne. The Transurban Annual Report says that we have 130,702 shareholders. How many of them have voted or participated in today's hybrid meeting? If you don't know now, please answer the question when disclosing the poll results at the to the ASX later today by including the data on how many shareholders voted for and against each item, similar to what happens with a scheme of arrangement. This will provide a better gauge of retail shareholder sentiment and insights into the chronically low retail shareholder voting participation rates in Australia, particularly since the move away from paper. Others have already blazed the trail as this was a voluntary disclosure, initiative adopted by the likes of Qantas, ASX, Metcash, Altium, AY, Dexus, Webjet, Tabcorp, and Myer in recent years.
Finally, on AGM process for next year, please stick with the excellent hybrid model. Disclose the proxies to the ASX earlier along the formal addresses, as many of the others do now, and return to the normal process of taking questions on each resolution sequentially rather than this job lot model. You don't throw the agenda out at the board meetings and ask directors if they have any issues to raise on any item all at once, so please don't do it at the AGM. It disrespects retail shareholders and reduces the focus on important individual items of business.
Stephen, thank you for your multiple questions in that question. What I would say is... Well, where do I, where do I start? In terms of number of shareholders, I don't think it's market practice by a long shot yet, but what I would say is we will definitely keep that on the agenda for the board to contemplate. So we're not saying no. We obviously haven't done it this year, and that's not our intention, but the board will keep it on the agenda for consideration, 'cause I think it's a fair question. In terms of hybrid format, that would be our intention. And I know some have gone purely to physical, but our intention would be to stay with hybrid. In relation to your other...
We've found putting all the questions, and we're not saying, and, Stephen, you'd be a good example. You know, we're answering. I think we've answered four or five of your questions so far. We're not standing here trying not to give people an opportunity to ask questions. We're just trying to run an efficient meeting for everyone, and we think it's a more efficient meeting to put all the business up in front, and then if people have got questions, they can ask whatever questions they like in the question and answer session, rather than doing piece of business questions, piece of business questions, piece of business questions, 'cause you get a lot of repetition, and that's, we think, a more efficient process.
Chair, we have another question from Mr. Stephen Mayne in relation to item 2C, re-election of Tim Reed. As a former president of the Business Council of Australia, how deep are Tim Reed's political contacts, particularly at the state government level? Big business has never been more on the nose in Western democracies, with even supposedly pro-business conservative governments and parties happy to join elite pile-ons, as seen with Qantas, PWC, Coles, and Woolworths in recent years. After Tim has provided his perspective on the political environment and his political connections, could the CEO also summarize what steps we are taking to build close and trusting relationships with various state governments we contract with? Does this include making political donations or paying to attend political events?
Thank you, Stephen. Tim, I'm not gonna, I'm not gonna ask you to respond on that. I don't think it's appropriate for individual directors to talk about what connectivity they may have here or there or otherwise. Other than what I would say is the majority, the very vast majority of the work is done at an executive level, and the company has always held good working relationships with Australian governments. But Michelle, I think it would be appropriate for you to comment on that and also on the donations issue.
Yeah. Thank you, and thank you, Stephen. I'll start on the donations, and you can see our policy on our website. We do not make political donations in Australia or pay to attend events. So that's clear in our policy. In terms of what we're doing, it really comes back to the things the chairman's spoken about, and it starts with our customers. And I put those into sort of three broad groups. It's being really, really clear with our customers on the value they get on our roads, whether that's time-saving, safety, fuel efficiency, and helping them see that. Secondly, is transparency, so we've been investing heavily, probably more so than anyone else, to enable our customers to have the tools to make those choices.
So we've invested heavily in our app, worked with Google Maps, so the choices are clear for customers. And the third area is around customer rewards, to add additional value for our customers, 'cause our view is, if we do all of those things well, we'll work well with our government partners. And what we're seeing because of that and because of the way we're showing up as a good partner is I feel we're starting to see the benefits of that come through. You can see that with the announcement of the Logan expansion that came out in the last a few months.
Also, the way we're working in New South Wales in relation to toll reform, which is a very, very constructive and collaborative process, which really just builds on work that the government and the independent reviewer has done. I feel that we're doing it in the right way, and we're starting to see the benefits of that.
Fiona.
Chair, we have another question from Mr. Stephen Mayne. What is our history with the CFMEU, and have we noticed any change on construction sites since they were placed into administration?
Michelle, I might pass that one to you.
I mean, thank you, and thanks, Stephen. We're essentially sort of one up, one back on that, in that it's, you know, we've got contractors that manage the work. But we have written to all of our contractor partners in terms of expectations, and engaged with our government partners along those lines as well.
Thank you.
Chair, we have no further questions online.
Are there any further questions in the room? No. As there are no more questions, that concludes our discussion of each of the items of business. Security holders and guests, that concludes the business of the meetings, and all that remains now is to complete the poll by submitting your votes. If you have not already done so, please complete your voting now. Once again, we have displayed on the screen the proxy instructions for each item of business. For those attending the meetings in person, please lodge your completed vote cards in one of the collection boxes located near the exit. If you require any assistance, please raise your hand, and Computershare representatives will help you. The poll will close in ten minutes after the conclusion of the meetings.
Rather than delay the closing of the meetings, the results of each poll will be announced to the ASX and published on Transurban's website once the votes have been counted and checked. I thank you for your attendance and participation at the meetings today, and subject to finalization of the poll, I declare the Annual General Meetings of Transurban Holdings Limited and Transurban International Limited and the meeting of Transurban Holding Trust closed. For those attending in person, I hope you will be able to join me and the Transurban directors, together with senior executives, for refreshments in the foyer. Thank you.